Is There A Radioactive Waste Land In Your Back Yard?

While nearly three years after the Fukushima disaster the world is finally focused, rightfully so, on the epic ecological and radioactive clusterfuck unfolding in Japan, where in a desperate effort to distract the population from what is going on in its back yard, the Premier has launched the most ridiculous monetary experiment doomed to failure, the reality is that the US itself harbors a veritable waste land of radioactive fallout, much of it hidden in plain sight.

As the following interactive map from the WSJ shows, of the 517 active sites in the continental US, found on the Department of Energy's listing of facilities "considered" for radioactive cleanup through its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, some 43 have a "potential for significant radioactive contamination" through the time of the study.

During the build-up to the Cold War, the U.S. government called upon hundreds of factories and research centers to help develop nuclear weapons and other forms of atomic energy. At many sites, this work left behind residual radioactive contamination requiring government cleanups, some of which are still going on.

The Department of Energy says it has protected the public health, and studies about radiation harm aren’t definitive. But with the government's own records about many of the sites unclear, the Journal has compiled a database that draws on thousands of public records and other sources to trace this historic atomic development effort and its consequences.

Find out if your state, city, or town is located next to a potential dormant and largely secret Fukushima, using the following handy interactive map.

While we invite readers to drill down their particular state, the top ten states with the most cites are listed in descending order below, starting with...

1. Polar bears, seals and walruses along the Alaska coastline are suffering from fur loss and open sores…

Wildlife experts are studying whether fur loss and open sores detected in nine polar bears in recent weeks is widespread and related to similar incidents among seals and walruses.

The bears were among 33 spotted near Barrow, Alaska, during routine survey work along the Arctic coastline. Tests showed they had “alopecia, or loss of fur, and other skin lesions,” the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement.

2. There is an epidemic of sea lion deaths along the California coastline…

At island rookeries off the Southern California coast, 45 percent of the pups born in June have died, said Sharon Melin, a wildlife biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service based in Seattle. Normally, less than one-third of the pups would die. It’s gotten so bad in the past two weeks that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an “unusual mortality event.”

3. Along the Pacific coast of Canada and the Alaska coastline, the population of sockeye salmon is at a historic low. Many are blaming Fukushima.

4. Something is causing fish all along the west coast of Canada to bleed from their gills, bellies and eyeballs.

5. A vast field of radioactive debris from Fukushima that is approximately the size of California has crossed the Pacific Ocean and is starting to collide with the west coast.

6. It is being projected that the radioactivity of coastal waters off the U.S. west coast could double over the next five to six years.

7. Experts have found very high levels of cesium-137 in plankton living in the waters of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the west coast.

8. One test in California found that 15 out of 15 bluefin tuna were contaminated with radiation from Fukushima.

9. Back in 2012, the Vancouver Sun reported that cesium-137 was being found in a very high percentage of the fish that Japan was selling to Canada…

• 73 percent of mackerel tested

• 91 percent of the halibut

• 92 percent of the sardines

• 93 percent of the tuna and eel

• 94 percent of the cod and anchovies

• 100 percent of the carp, seaweed, shark and monkfish

10. Canadian authorities are finding extremely high levels of nuclear radiation in certain fish samples…

Some fish samples tested to date have had very high levels of radiation: one sea bass sample collected in July, for example, had 1,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.

11. Some experts believe that we could see very high levels of cancer along the west coast just from people eating contaminated fish…

“Look at what’s going on now: They’re dumping huge amounts of radioactivity into the ocean — no one expected that in 2011,” Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear policy lecturer at the University of California-Santa Cruz, told Global Security Newswire. “We could have large numbers of cancer from ingestion of fish.”

13. An EU-funded study concluded that Fukushima released up to 210 quadrillion becquerels of cesium-137 into the atmosphere.

14. Atmospheric radiation from Fukushima reached the west coast of the United States within a few days back in 2011.

15. At this point, 300 tons of contaminated water is pouring into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima every single day.

16. A senior researcher of marine chemistry at the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Meteorological Research Institute says that “30 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium and 30 billion becquerels of radioactive strontium” are being released into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima every single day.

17. According to Tepco, a total of somewhere between 20 trillion and 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium have gotten into the Pacific Ocean since the Fukushima disaster first began.

18. According to a professor at Tokyo University, 3 gigabecquerels of cesium-137 are flowing into the port at Fukushima Daiichi every single day.

19. It has been estimated that up to 100 times as much nuclear radiation has been released into the ocean from Fukushima than was released during the entire Chernobyl disaster.

20. One recent study concluded that a very large plume of cesium-137 from the Fukushima disaster will start flowing into U.S. coastal waters early next year…

Ocean simulations showed that the plume of radioactive cesium-137 released by the Fukushima disaster in 2011 could begin flowing into U.S. coastal waters starting in early 2014 and peak in 2016.

21. It is being projected that significant levels of cesium-137 will reach every corner of the Pacific Ocean by the year 2020.

22. It is being projected that the entire Pacific Ocean will soon “have cesium levels 5 to 10 times higher” than what we witnessed during the era of heavy atomic bomb testing in the Pacific many decades ago.

23. The immense amounts of nuclear radiation getting into the water in the Pacific Ocean has caused environmental activist Joe Martino to issue the following warning…

Your days of eating Pacific Ocean fish are over.

24. The Iodine-131, Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 that are constantly coming from Fukushima are going to affect the health of those living the the northern hemisphere for a very, very long time. Just consider what Harvey Wasserman had to say about this…

Iodine-131, for example, can be ingested into the thyroid, where it emits beta particles (electrons) that damage tissue. A plague of damaged thyroids has already been reported among as many as 40 percent of the children in the Fukushima area. That percentage can only go higher. In developing youngsters, it can stunt both physical and mental growth. Among adults it causes a very wide range of ancillary ailments, including cancer.

Strontium-90’s half-life is around 29 years. It mimics calcium and goes to our bones.

25. According to a recent Planet Infowars report, the California coastline is being transformed into “a dead zone”…

The California coastline is becoming like a dead zone.

If you haven’t been to a California beach lately, you probably don’t know that the rocks are unnaturally CLEAN – there’s hardly any kelp, barnacles, sea urchins, etc. anymore and the tide pools are similarly eerily devoid of crabs, snails and other scurrying signs of life… and especially as compared to 10 – 15 years ago when one was wise to wear tennis shoes on a trip to the beach in order to avoid cutting one’s feet on all the STUFF of life – broken shells, bones, glass, driftwood, etc.

There are also days when I am hard-pressed to find even a half dozen seagulls and/or terns on the county beach.

You can still find a few gulls trolling the picnic areas and some of the restaurants (with outdoor seating areas) for food, of course, but, when I think back to 10 – 15 years ago, the skies and ALL the beaches were literally filled with seagulls and the haunting sound of their cries both day and night…

NOW it’s unnaturally quiet.

26. A study conducted last year came to the conclusion that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster could negatively affect human life along the west coast of North America from Mexico to Alaska “for decades”.

27. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is being projected that the cleanup of Fukushima could take up to 40 years to complete.

28. Yale Professor Charles Perrow is warning that if the cleanup of Fukushima is not handled with 100% precision that humanity could be threatened “for thousands of years”…

Conditions in the unit 4 pool, 100 feet from the ground, are perilous, and if any two of the rods touch it could cause a nuclear reaction that would be uncontrollable. The radiation emitted from all these rods, if they are not continually cool and kept separate, would require the evacuation of surrounding areas including Tokyo. Because of the radiation at the site the 6,375 rods in the common storage pool could not be continuously cooled; they would fission and all of humanity will be threatened, for thousands of years.

Are you starting to understand why so many people are so deeply concerned about what is going on at Fukushima?

Who's payroll are you on? If people are concerned instead of being an asshole about it point ithem n the direction in how to check it for themselves so they can put their own minds to rest. It is a more productive way to make your point.

It is about information and ideas not the mouthpiece but sound like one of those limited 2 team thinkers. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Don't believe me use the information and prove it to yourself. That is how Libertarians roll. I can't learn things for people they need to fucking do it themselves information and ideas are necessary to do so. The point of having a brain is to be able to vette that information and ideas in the first place. That is unique in how each individual does it and also voluntary if they choose to do so.

517 active sites in the continental US, found on the Department of Energy's listing of facilities "considered" for radioactive cleanup through its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program,

Sequoyah Fuels Corporation (SFC) is going to take care of Gore OK site:

SFC submitted decommissioning plans for the site in 1998 and 1999. The decommissioning plan proposed utilizing an onsite, above-grade disposal cell for the permanent disposal of waste. The plan proposed restricted release of the site in accordance with 10 CFR 20.1403 (the license termination rule). However, restricted release requires the commitment of a responsible party to act as a custodian of the site. SFC was not able to obtain a commitment from an acceptable responsible party, although it held discussions with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in that regard.

STOP...correctomundo. Serious scholarship is lacking from this article. New Mexico? How about mentioning the McDonald Ranch in the Jornada del Muerto (Journey of Death) where on 16th July 1945, US Gov't lit off Trinity to test the feasibility of the Implosion design. The worry was that expensively produced plutonium created in the reactors at Hanford would fall into enemy hands and be used against us. I knew of over 12 sites not covered by this author's crude maps. Sandia labs?

This is a serious and hot-button topic. I live downwind from Los Alamos and have been dealing with thyroid cancer for 14 years. It isn't any picnic dealing with 4 major neck surgeries over the years. Like a broken record. I know more about thyroid cancer than I care to admit. Neck scars run from ear to ear...this is a called "...a Mafia smile" btw...

Gamma Scout still the best geiger counter on the market in terms of price, precission and value.
does not detect contaminated food however, as not other geiger counter dies, only professional lab equipment.

barnwell south carolina, and rocky flats colorado not on the list? in barnwell, which is between the ashley, and cooper rivers, the water table is only a few feet below grade. they imported and buried waste in 55 gal drums, for decades, in open unlined pits. they just quit that a few years ago. rocky flats was dealt with, by just paving over the contaminated ground, with asphalt one foot thick. america " fuck yeah"

Oh Jesus, the people in places like Simi Valley won't even eat granola FFS, unless its been prepared by a friend of theirs in their very own basement, stored in an Organically Certified facility, was raised and transported without any fossil fuels involved in any way shape of form, their meat has to have a biography of the animal including its name, mother and father's lineage, a notarized certification from everybody in the production and processing line that it was done in a wonderfully polite and tender manner.More succinctly, the folks resident in Simi are fucking nuts.

Pure California Nuts

Classic Cadillac Communist Californians more interested in the feeling good, assuaging the accumulated imaginary guilt about shit than what reality demands and truly matters. Plus, most of 'em have no clue as to who they really are... but sure like to put on a show....

I was curious about North Carolina so enlarged the map and it turns out the town of Erwin, TN has a nuclear processing plant for the Dept. of the Navy.Who would have known as Erwin is in the middle of flyover country.

I've gone white water rafting on the Nolichucky river shown in the Google maps of one of the potential clean up sites on the infographic in the WSJ article. The river flows from the West side of Grandfather Mtn. in NC through the Linville gorge into Erwin, TN on it's way to the Mississippi. Beautiful river in the deepest gorge on the East Coast. The NC line is 3 miles or so East along the River. We stayed at a Holiday Inn off of I-81 and was surprised to see a flatbead rig with Nuclear symbols all over in the parking lot. Rig was carrying 3 dry caskets of nuclear fuel. Probably on the way to the processing plant in town.

My slice of the ocean still looks the same. i dont eat seafood much anymore but there are still plenty of seagulls, otters and seals playing around. So while i think Fukushima is a horrible disaster, some of this is alarmist baloney.

My slice of the ocean still looks the same. i dont eat seafood much anymore but there are still plenty of seagulls, otters and seals playing around. So while i think Fukushima is a horrible disaster, some of this is alarmist baloney.

In a strange and perverse sort of way, Chernobyl and more recently Fukushima have created the perfect solution for permanent spent nuclear fuel storage on a global scale, as well as salvage of their host government’s finances. Either one could charge other countries a fortune to store their spent nuclear fuel on a site so contaminated with radioactivity that no one would ever notice the difference if the entire world’s spent fuel was added to the site.

Unfortunately, now that there are two options there is competition for the service, and we all know that never works in the new world economic order. There can be only one centrally planned storage facility for radioactive material, so, one of them has to be moved to the other location first.

The Fuku stories are always quite depressing, but I read them anyway. The truth hurts and Fuku is possibly going to cause more harm to humans than all the wars and natural disasters combined. Guess those guys who put up the Georgia Guidestones are going to get their wish when 6 billion people are wiped off the face of the earth. No wonder there are so many zombie shows these days. Art imitating life in the future tense.

Very depressing. If I lived in California, Oregon or Washington, I'd be seriously thinking about moving, and maybe already would have done so. Even living in upstate NY isn't far enough away from Fuku for me. Thinking Brazil or Uruguay, maybe even inland Asia, Antarctica. Shit, maybe the moon.